Openness and Entrepreneurs

We’re entering into an age of transparency in business. Companies that open up and are honest about what they do are being rewarded with more loyal customers and stakeholders.

In the world I live in (Atlanta Village, TechStars, etc.) transparency is the norm. However, I met with a young entrepreneur tonight for whom openness is non-standard. This entrepreneur runs a $7mm+ revenue service business. They do a lot of work with the government, are bootstrapped and don’t really talk details of their company with outsiders.

It was a bit of a culture shock for each-other as we carried on early conversations. We eventually both came around and connected, but it got me thinking about optimal levels of transparency…and whether we truly are trending towards predominantly more openness in business.

My conclusion was that it might not be moving that way as fast as I thought.